from outside the walls
by attackoninsanity
Summary: Takes place after chapter 54. The scouting legion has found another titan shifter after an expedition outside of Wall rose. Will she be of any use to them.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: I haven't decided if the narrator of this chapter is going to be an OC or reader insert. if i end up making her an oc i do have her appearance planned out. This story will have some dark themes later on, you'll have an idea which ones particular when the time comes. this may include romance later on maybe possibly with levi, eren,armin, jean, or marlo. Also this takes place after chapter 54**

* * *

"Ugh" I groaned, forcing my eyes to open. I looked down to find that my hands were cuffed to a pole, and that I was wearing a simple shirt and pants which I don't remember wearing previously. Plus the courtroom reeked of an unknown order.

"She's awake!" I heard somebody yell. I quickly took in my surroundings and noticed that I was in a courtroom of some sort. Funny, how did I get here? The last thing I remember prior to this, was some mysterious doctor walking up towards me while I was laying on the field injured and bleeding to death, and injecting me with something on my left arm without saying a word. I looked around the courtroom to see if the same man was there, but he wasn't. Some soldiers started to point their guns at me. Shit! When will I ever get a break. When will I ever become free again.

"Halt your weapons" A voice called out. I'm not sure where they voice is coming from. While my eEnglish is rusty, considering that it's not my native tongue and haven't had to speak it in a long while, I'm guessing the voice was ordering the gunmen to stop since they put their guns down. Next, a man with a menacing aura ,standing near the judge the courtroom, who happens to be not much taller than I am, started to walk towards me. When he was about a third of a meter away from me, he then kneed me in the jaw.

"ouch!" I cried out. The crowd gasped at the man's actions as I spat out a tooth or two.

"Order, Order" the judge called out. "you can stop now, Captain Levi."

~~~time skip~~~

Several hours later, the judge had made his verdict. I was handed over to a man with one arm called "commander Erwin" who then sent me over to the man who kneed me in the jaw earlier and this one androgynous looking person with messy hair. They led me to a couch to sit on. I complied even though I was afraid of them.

"Are you ok? I hope Levi didn't hurt you that badly." They went towards me and put their hands on my mouth and pried it opened. I squirmed under their touch because of their violation of my personal space and then pushed them away out of instinct.

"Sorry about that, and anyway it looks like your teeth have grown back since then" I put a finger in my mouth feeling all my teeth to find no missing teeth, which I found odd considering I spat out a few teeth during the trial. This freaky but for some strange reason I didn't panic about it. I guess because i'm too mentally exhausted to do that considering all the strange things that happened in these past few hours.

"Oh, I forgot to properly introduce myself, My name is Hanji, and the guy sitting on the other end of the couch is Levi." I looked to my left and saw him waving at me. I'm guess he's not much of a talker.

"What's your name?"

"My name is Bertha." I responded, only giving them a fake name. I don't know who these guys are, so why should I tell them my actual name.

"So you can speak our language?"

"Yes, but only some." I responded humbly.

Hanji then walked towards Levi and whispered something in his ear. He nodded in agreement to whatever was said. I got up from my seat ready to walk.

"Where do you think you are going?" Levi shouted. I sat back down on the couch without responding. Ok, simply walking away isn't gonna work. I've got to think of a sneakier way to escape.

"Ok, Hanji has decided that we are gonna teach you more of our language, and how to use the 3D maneuver gear first, in the first few weeks. Once you learn our language, then we'll tell you more as to why you are here. Starting tomorrow, she'll start with testing how much of our language you know." I nodded sleepily, even though I only understood some of the things they said. I must of fallen asleep on the couch, and must have been carried to a bed afterwards.

"wake up berta!" I opened my eyes to spot two unfamiliar girls standing on either side of my bed.

"how do you know my name?"

"no time to explain, we need to take you to squad leader Hanji now." The girl with brown hair replied. Both girls yanked me from my bed, and dragged me out of the room and then whatever room Hanji was in. Afterwards, they quickly saluted Hanji and ran out the room.

"We'll start after you quickly eat your breakfast." she said while handing me a piece of bread.

After eating, she tested me for about an hour. She decided that I need about month to learn enough English to communicate with the others well enough. She then taught some grammar rules, and some words for the next few hours, then I was sent off to Levi to learn how to use this weird piece of technology called the 3D maneuver gear. The several long boring hours, he showed me diagrams of it and had to then watch him use it to clean the exterior of the building. Ugh, this is gonna be a long boring month. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any opportunity to escape today.


	2. Chapter 2

**author note: I've decided to make her an oc. what I've got planned for this story won't do well with the main character being a reader insert. sorry that this chapter is uneventful, and sorry if anyone is ooc. **

* * *

After the learning session was over, he led me back the same cabin I was in this morning and into the cabin's dining area. There were five people in total sitting at the table including the two girls who woke me up this morning. They all waved at me, and I shyly waved back since I wasn't in the mood for socializing right now.

"Please take a seat Berta, and get to know everyone while waiting for me while I prepare dinner."

"You can sit right here next to me" The girl with the brown hair pointed at an empty chair. I took a seat at the aforementioned chair.

"Sorry for not introducing myself and Mikasa earlier, My name is Sasha Braus, and the girl to my right is Mikasa Ackerman. The three guys sitting on the other side of this table from left to right are Armin, Connie, and Jean. You see we had some errands to do today that we had to start on ASAP. Levi told us to quickly wake you up before starting them since we were running late. If you are wondering how we knew your name, Levi told us last night, after he carried your sleeping form into our cabin."

"Why am I here?"

The girl named Mikasa answered, "Well you see two days ago, while we were exploring the Western part of wall Maria, we came across your titan form. I then slashed the nape,thinking you were a mindless titan. Shortly after your titans form fell- while I was walking away- Armin looked behind me and noticed your unconscious body popping out. We then had no choice but to take you ..." I shrugged since I was confused about what she was saying.

Before she could finish her sentence Armin interrupted saying, "I don't think she understands what you are saying Mikasa. I doubt she knows what the Walls are, and according to Hanji, she doesn't speak our language that well."

"Then why does she respond to us?"

"Well she probably only knows enough to get by. I wonder what language she can speak though. I hope Hanji could teach her enough of the language soon. Maybe we could learn something new from Berta."

"i'm done now, Armin, it's your turn to serve dinner tomorrow" He said while handing everyone their plates. While we were all eating dinner, I listened in on their conversations trying to understand what they were saying, maybe understand what's going on. I also had a few simple conversations with everyone there. After dinner, Armin showed some books of his, and briefly explained what the walls Mikasa was talking about earlier with a help of a map he had of them.

After I spent time with Armin, everyone started to get changed into their nightwear. I decided to check the drawers next to my bed. The top drawer had a two pairs of uniforms, the second one had the old clothes I last remember wearing before yesterday with the blood and dirt stains in it, and the bottom drawer had a few pairs pajamas and undergarments in it. I lied down thinking about what I learned today, and some of the events played in my head. Apparently this cabin I'm staying in isn't far away from Wall Rose. If I could get out of here, and then find a way to exit Wall Rose, and then Wall Maria, I'll hopefully be free for good. I don't want to be trapped here as a military slave. Secondly, there's something fishy about the government in this society. Nor I don't feel comfortable about Levi either, he has this creepy aura about him, and comes across as being a jerkass clean freak. What does everyone else here see in him? How do they even get along with him? After contemplating what happened in these past two days, I fell asleep.

The next few days play out almost the same with having lessons with Hanji and Levi, and spending time with the others afterwards during dinnertime and afterwards. In fact on my sixth night there, It was my turn to make dinner. I decided to make Grilled cheese sandwiches due to the limited amount of of supplies, and because it was easy to make. While none of my teammates or Levi had tried it before, they actually enjoyed it, even Levi surprisingly, considering how grouchy he can be during your sessions with him. On that night after that, while Levi had to do a few errands after dinner, I decided to draw while the others were talking. One of these drawings depicted a starry-eyed Sasha hugging a bag of potatoes.

"What are you writing there?" I heard a voice from behind me ask, and turned around to see that it was Armin.

"I'm drawing right now."

"May I see your drawings?"

"Let me finish this drawing first then I'll show them to you." A few minutes later, I finished my sketch of Levi's head popping out of the trashcan like Oscar the Grouch with a speech bubble with the phrase "¡Vete al infierno!"and showed it to Armin.

"Nice drawings Berta. I'd say the sasha one is my favorite, but the Levi one is also funny even though I'm not sure what the writing means."

"I'll tell you what it means later." I felt someone put their hand on my shoulder,

"Um, it's time to get ready for bed" I looked behind me, and saw Mikasa.

"I guess I have to go now, Good night" Armin said as he walked away. After I got into my pajamas, I got into my bed and fell to a dreamless sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry that this chapter is kind of boring, the next chapter will have more action in it though. also Eren will make his debut in this fic later in the story. Yes , I know the main character is making some rather harsh judgements towards Levi, but she'll soften up towards him later(hint:I plan on her not getting along with Eren either at first). Also Berta(that's what I'm calling her now, until I decide to reveal her real name later) will use her titans powers for the first time soon.**

* * *

"Which one of you cadets drew this 'piece of shit" Captain Levi's angry yelling woke me up, holding the paper I drew on last night. Shit, I forgot to put it away in my drawers.

After a minute of silence, Levi shouted "If none of you wanna fess up, then all three of you will be on garbage duty today as punishment."

"You told Mikasa and I to count the remaining unused supplies left, so it couldn't have been either of us." Ugh, Sasha just had to rat me out. I'd wish she kept her mouth shut.

"Ok then, only Berta will be on trash duty today. Your shift starts after your lesson with Hanji." I glared at him.

"Tch. Your glare doesn't scare me, cadet. If you continue be insubordinate today, I'll extend you punishment for tomorrow or longer."

After breakfast, I went to Hanji as planned, Then Levi had me Pick up trash from all over the base and throw in the dumpster. He then had me clean up horse shit and put it in the dumpster also and other similar tasks. Ugh, this chore was awful. I felt stinky and grimy all over. I didn't get why so many people in the scouting legion respect. I don't care if he's "Humanity's strongest", he's still just a sadistic bastard in my eyes. After I was done with my punishment ,we went back towards front yard near the cabin where Mikasa was at also. Levi then walked towards to back for some unknown reason.

"How did it go?"

"Great! just Great!"

"It's better not to piss Levi off, if you don't want to do that again."

"yeah, I see that, and I feel so grimy, so I'm gonna take a shower."

"Ok Berta."

I walked inside towards my room to pick out my clothes, then got into the shower room. I took a nice long shower, to make sure I got the smell of garbage off of me. Once I finished, I reached for a towel to dry with. About a minute later, before I had the chance to dry enough to my change of clothes on, I screamed and threw a soap bar towards the possible intruder without thinking about it.

"Ugh, you just had to aim towards my eyes! Now I got soap in my eyes I have rinse out which means I can't get started cleaning this room right away. Berta, next time please tell me ahead of time next time you take a shower so this won't happen again."

"Could you wait for me outside this room to change first or find another sink to rinse your eyes out in please? I like my privacy when changing." He silently walked out the room and closed the door behind.

I got dressed quickly and ran out the bathroom and yelled out "I'm done now Levi"

I walked towards the dining room, and saw most of the team there except for Jean, so I guess it's his turn to cook today. I saw Levi run towards the bathroom with his cleaning supplies.

"Hey Berta, why were you screaming a few minutes ago? Sasha, Mikasa, Connie ,and I were standing here talking. Shortly after hearing you scream, we saw Levi rush towards the kitchen sink looking all upset. We tried to ask him, and he didn't answer."

"He accidentally entered the shower room when I was about to change, I panicked , without even taking a look to see who it was, and threw a soap bar in his direction, and it landed on top of one of his eyes. So I'll be honest, it's my fault he's upset" I don't why I decided to tell the truth about what happened today, especially since I was considering lying about this. My thoughts were interrupted by Sasha and Connie's laughs.

"Calm down you two, it's not that funny"

"ok, we'll stop Berta." They stopped shortly after like they said they would. A half and hour later dinner was ready but I didn't like Jean's cooking, So, I didn't eat much, and went to bed hungry.

~time skip~

It's been a month since I was taken by the survey Corps. Hanji is now done with her english lessons as now plans to experiment on me, which I'm nervous about considering . Levi recently started having practice using the 3Dm gear. The 3dm gear was difficult for me to use, and using it to climb heights can be a bit scary with all the jerk movements I experienced while using it. I also learned more about this society i'm in, and more about the government corruption. Hopefully the government will get overthrown soon. Maybe I can finally get my freedom. While I don't necessarily hate my teammates, I don't feel like I belong here. In fact, in a couple of the days I've been here, Hanji and Levi would take me outside the base, sometimes stare at me like I was a weirdo or something. Occasionally I've been catcalled, verbally harassed, and a few times some random guy would try to grope me, but at least Hanji or Levi would defend me when that happened. I guess people reacted to me like that because my skin color is darker than all the 'wall-dwellers'. Also, I find their government to be too controlling. After my training lessons that day, after my comrades and I finish training we headed back towards the cabin. Out of nowhere a grenade is thrown to the front from an unknown direction. It released and strange looking smoke with an odd overpowering smell. In fact the smell knocked me unconscious.


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter is in Levi's point of view. This chapter also contains a dark theme. Sorry if anyone is ooc in this story. I'm not an expert at writing, but I'm writing this story since I had the basic plotline of this stuck in my head for a while. I'm using this as writing practice also. **

* * *

Levi pov

As I went back towards the cabin from my meeting with Erwin, to my shock, I saw most of squad mates lying there unconscious except for Berta who was not there. I looked around the front and found the remnants of some sort of explosive. I bet the fucking military police is behind this. I quickly checked if they were all breathing and fortunately they were. Fortunately I still had my 3dm gear on, so all I had to do was to get on my horse. I quickly rode to Hanji's squad headquarters. Luckily she was outside.

"Hey Levi! What's wrong? You look.."

Before she could finish I interrupted her saying "I think Berta's been kidnapped, and the rest of my squad has been knocked out. I need you to watch over them while I go search for Berta. No time for questions!" Without Warning, she ran towards me and jumped on my horse. We rushed back to them on horseback, and I dropped her off once we got there. I left the training grounds without saying goodbye. I decided to head towards the Trost district first since that's where they held Jean and Armin hostage two months ago. They are dumb enough to go to the same place again.

As I got closer to Trost, I saw a group of people running away from the town.

"Run for your life! Trost has been sieged by a titan."

"Wait! I need ask you guys something."

"What? Make it quick" one of the guys in the crowd replied

"Did this titan kill anyone?"

"I heard it killed some military police men, not sure if anyone else died though."

I left the crowd without saying a word, and rushed towards the city entrance.

As I got closer, I saw a large crowd of people evacuating the city. After worming my way through I finally entered the city successfully. Hopefully I'm not too late.

"Mom look it's Humanity's strongest! He's here to save the day!" A young boy standing next to his mother, shouted out.

"You and your son should probably evacuate for you safety." She nodded, and ran towards the city gates with her son. I started to run around town trying to figure out where she was at. I accidentally bumped into Rico.

"Oops sorry, didn't see you there Levi!"

"Rico, you know that shifter my squad found a month ago?" She nodded, "I think she might be the titan causing havoc here."

"Ok, I'll come with you to help get her out of her titan form" We found nearest tall building, a three story warehouse, and scaled it. Once I climbed to the roof, I could see Berta's titan form in the distance, running towards the wall. We flew from rooftop to rooftop as quickly as possible, with our 3dmg's. Shit! I hope we can make it to her on time! By the time Rico and I made our way more than halfway through town, she was already climbing the wall.

"I think we maybe too late!"

"No, I'm not gonna give up yet. I'm gonna fucking pick up my speed to catch up to her"

I went as fast as I could to reach the wall. By the time I got there, she already climbed to the top and had just barely jumped off. I still didn't give up and flew to the top of my wall. I went down to the nearest tree. I then kept tree hopping until I spotted Berta getting attacked by two mindless titans. I watched her from a distance waiting for the perfect opportunity. She used hand to hand combat like Eren did when fighting Annie. While she wasn't a bad figher, she could use some improvement on her fighting techniques. She gave the first titan an uppercut and then kicked it in the shins knocking it down. She then flipped it over, and bit it's nape in order to kill it. She killed the second one in similar fashion . I guess Hanji must have told her about their weak spot being the nape.

After she finished defeating the group, I got out of my hiding spot and shot a grappling hook towards the top of her back. I sliced her nape with my blades, and started to scrape titan skin from the nape looking for her body. I was startled to find her naked in the nape. Ugh, the fucking military police is at it again. I'm sick of those fuckers abusing, murdering, and raping people. I quickly put my cape on here, and carried her and made my wall to the wall. Fortunately Rico and a few other Garrison member were there at the top of the wall since my tank was almost empty.

"I'm guessing MP are the ones to blame for this." She pointed at Berta's nudity, "Knowing them, they probably raped her while she was unconcious, and when she woke up, she decided to turn into a titan in order to fight them off. This is why I decided not to join the Military Police"

"My tanks are almost empty so could you guys help me take her back to the infirmary of the scouting legion?"

"Ok Levi, we'll help. Just please catch up with us after you fill your tanks in that building down there." Another soldier said pointing down to that building down there. I used the last of the gas in the tank to make my way down there. After refilling my tanks, I caught up with Rico and her teammates. While walking our way through town, we ran into Hanji, with the rest of my squad.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"We'll shortly after you left, they woke up, and I told them what happened. They asked me to help them find you. I see you found Berta, but why is she naked?" After I said the word naked, Jean and Armin were visibly flustered and avoided looking in her direction.

"I'll explain later. We need to bring her to safety." While heading our way towards the gate, we passed by a jewelry store.

"Captain Levi Sir, May I quickly buy a necklace for Berta?"

"Sure, just hurry up and don't get lost" I decided to let him do that, since he may not get the chance to do that again, since there's a possibility that the military police might end up taking her custody instead.

"Thank you!" Armin ran towards the nearby shop. The rest of rushed back to my squad's cabin. Shortly after we got there Armin met us there with a necklace in his hand, with a stone that matches Berta's eye color. Once we carried Berta to her bed, Hanji and Sasha offered to put her pajamas on, and the rest of us left the room. After they finished, we all went back into the room. I decided to explain to everyone what had happened. Then Hanji decided to return to her squad. Afterwards I decided to send my squad mates to bed. I grabbed a chair and placed it near Berta's bed in order to monitor her through the night. I'll find out how many people died, and get a doctor to check up on her tomorrow. I'm not sure if we can keep Berta here much longer, considering what happened today. Now thinking about, maybe I shouldn't have taken her out of her titans form and let her escape.


	5. Chapter 5

**author's note: Sorry I took so long to update this story, I was busy with finals and such. I decided to end this chapter with a cliffhanger. You'll find out her fate next chapter. **

* * *

I woke up to find myself back in my bed. I saw that Mikasa and Sasha had already left the room. I heard some voices outside the room. So I walked towards the door in order to listen in on the conversation out of sheer curiosity and nosiness on my part. I'm guessing it's important since I hear several voices both familiar ones and unfamiliar ones.

"The fact that Captain Levi found Berta naked after getting her out of her titan form gives some unfortunate implications on what you and your comrades were doing with her unconscious in Trost. So I'm pretty sure they got what was coming for them. Maybe we should torture you to get information out of you about this incident." I heard one of Hanji's squad members say, but I can't remember their name, but I know it's not Molbit since that voice doesn't sound like him.

"Pfft. It doesn't matter if you kill me or not, I doubt I'm gonna live much longer anyways considering that I had to be carried here due to the fact the lower half of my body is paralyzed now, and considering how corrupt the government is. So there's no need to threaten to kill me anyways. So if you want to know why we kidnapped her, we were ordered to take her from you guys, then get a doctor to give her a full body examination not just for any venereal diseases but others ones too, which was why she was naked. We just sat nearby and watched for doctor examine her body. If you are wondering why we were told to do that, I can't remember why. I apparently got a concussion which damaged some of my short term memory, but oddly enough enough I can still remember what I just told you. Unfortunately my head still hurts."

"How convincing!" I heard Levi remark sarcastically.

"Stop it! I'm not lying to you guys. If we did that our boss, Lord Reiss, would have all our heads on a platter, especially since two of the male soldiers who I was with at the time, have venereal diseases themselves. Our boss ain't a force to be reckoned with. In fact he'll probably kill me if he found out about this conversation. Maybe I should kill myself first before he kills me."

"Get your hands off my blade! I won't let you kill yourself using my blades inside this cabin."

"Levi, may I speak with you privately in your room?" I heard another voice ask.

After a brief pause, Levi commanded, "The rest of you guys, stay here, while we talk privately"

"Yes, sir!" I heard some of my squadmates say in unison. I walked away from the door and sat on my bed

A minute later Sasha opened the door to our room

"Hey Berta, you're already awake? Did you overhear the whole conversation."

"I only heard the last part of it I think starting with the part when the soldier claimed that they were doing a medical examination on me , which explains why I woke up to find a man in a trench coat with gloves on, was touching different parts of my body." After Sasha entered, the rest of my teammates except for Armin followed behind. That's weird. I wonder where Armin is at.

"Well then, we've got some bad news to tell you. We're not sure if you are allowed to stay here with us anymore. There's a possibility you might be sent over to the inner district. That's what Levi and the King are discussing in private right now."

"Oh shit! Having to be babysat by Levi is bad enough! Now I'm gonna get sent over to those government creeps." I put my hands on the sides of my face in exasperation. I guess if I do get sent over there, I'll try my best to run away, even if I die trying.

"But if you do get sent over to the capital, one of us will give you a map of the inner district, in case you want to escape."

"Ok Mikasa. I hope you are right." I told her

"Changing subjects, How are you feeling right now, Berta?"

"I guess I feel ok, just a little tired, Connie. Just wondering, Where's Armin? He usually is always seen with you guys."

"I think he went to look for something in our room." Speak of the Devil! Armin just entered the room just seconds after Connie spoke.

"Ok guys! I'm back!" Armin went towards my bed and sat right next to me on my left.

"I guess you are already aware of your situation, so here's the map of the capital and wall Sina in case you get handed over to military police. please hide it carefully and try not to lose it." He took a map out of a jacket pocket.

"Thank you Armin. I just got to figure out where to hide it."

"I don't know maybe in one of your jacket pockets. Oh yeah, That reminds me, I have one more thing to give you." He took a necklace out of the same pocket he took the map out of.

"I got this for you since the stone in the center matched your eyes" He placed the necklace around my neck.

"Thank you so much Armin for this necklace. You're such a sweetheart!" Without thinking I wrapped my arms around his shoulder giving him a side hug. I quickly pecked him on his right cheek and then pulled away. His cheeks were lightly dusted with pink due to my actions.

"it's no-nothing" He stuttered. I heard Connie and Jean whistling and laughing in the background.

"Knock it off you two!" I glared at those two, which prompted them to stop.

"Berta, that necklace looks really good on you. I love how it matches your eyes. Mikasa, you agree with me right?" Mikasa simply nodded her head in response to Sasha.

"Oh Armin, what made you want to give this necklace to me?"

"Well yesterday, I saw it on display at a store in Trost. When I took a closer look at the the stone in the center, it reminded me of your eyes. So I had to buy it for you as a gift. Luckily it was affordable. In case you are confiscated by the military police, look at this as a parting gift" Armin then ruffled my hair with one of his hands. I didn't mind it one bit

"Let's all give Berta a group hug!" Sasha yelled. Afterwards my teammates all moved in order to give me a group hug. They weren't careful and they squeezed a little too tight.

"You guys, could you lessen the grip a little?" They fortunately lessened the tightness of the group hug. I let out a sigh of relief.

Knock! Everyone pulled away from me to open the door, and Hanji came rushing in.

"Have you heard our witness has passed out and his heartbeat is irregular. I'm gonna leave here with my squad to get help along with most of the other guests showed up here this morning. So if Levi asks about why most of us are gone, just tell him about that."

"Yes Squad leader Hanji, we'll tell him that" Sasha then saluted her.

"Alrightey then!" Hanji waved at us than rushed out the room.

"I guess we could just sit here and talk some more before Levi comes back from his talk with the King." We all nodded at Sasha's statement.

"What, you guys have a king?"

"Yes, but he's more a puppet king though, since the government and some noblemen such as Lord Reiss have most of the power and are actually the ones calling the shots. I'm a bit surprised that he decided to get involved. Something big is going on here, not entirely sure what yet, but whatever happened to you yesterday must be really important."

"So basically the king wasn't responsible for my kidnapping yesterday, right Jean?"

"I guess not, but I don't know for sure. There's a lot of things I don't fully understand yet."

"Same here" Sasha responded while Armin, Connie and Mikasa nodded in agreement with her.

"Switching topics, Why are you guys in the scouting Legion?" I was curious about why my comrades were here in the first place.

"Well I initially joined the army after getting into an argument with my dad. After my training days, I decided to join the Scouting Legion since many of my friends did." Sasha was the first to answer my question.

"I don't know what made me want to join, but so far I don't regret it." Connie answered afterwards.

"When I joined the army, I initially wanted to join the military police in order to live in safety within Wall Sina. That all changed when some family and friends of mines got eaten by titans during the battle of Trost several months ago."

"What's the battle of Trost?"

"Several months ago, a section of Wall Rose near Trost got breached, causing titans from outside to enter the city. At that time we were all still trainees. Us Trainees, the garrison , and the scouting legion managed to seal the breach and kill the titans that entered the city through the hole."

"What caused the Breach, and how did it get fixed?"

Before Jean could answer, Levi entered the room.

"Why are you brats the only ones here?" Sasha ran to Levi and whispered into his ear what had just happened a little while ago.

"Oh I didn't expect that to happen. Oh, the King and I came up with an agreement. We have decided that Berta ..."


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: finally I got chapter 6 done. I got a bit lazy on the dialouge in this chapter to be honest. I hope I didn't ruin this chapter with that. Sorry if anyone is ooc in this chapter.**

* * *

"...will be staying with us at least for a little while more."

Before Levi could finish speaking, the rest of my teammates cheered and pulled me into another group hug. This hug lasted for a few minutes.

"Tch! Fun times over guys, let me finishing speaking." Levi continued, "I'm not sure how long Berta can stay exactly, but the King agreed to let her stay here for as long as he will be king, but the bad news is that considering the internal conflict going on, it's uncertain how long he will remain in power. If someone else were to take over, they may not be as merciful. If Historia were to become queen as Commander Erwin planned, I would be able to convince her to let you stay Berta, but if someone else took over like Lord Reiss,who happens to Historia's father, or another one of his fellow goons, then who knows what they'll do with you. I'm surprised that he actually agreed to do this. I'm guessing there's an underlying reason behinds this that I don't know of."

"Are you sure this 'Historia' girl won't just do what her dad wants?" I asked him

"No, Historia barely even knows her dad, and is on bad terms with him. It's a long story."

"Yeah Berta, there's no way I could see her siding with him. She told us that the first time she met him, he tried to kill her after one of his goons killed her mother. There's no way she'll ever earn his approval so she wouldn't even bother trying. He's basically like a stranger to her." Armin added.

"Why did he do that? This Lord Reiss sounds like an awful person."

"He is terrible from what I've been told. I don't know the full detail of that incident, but I'm guessing his actions had something to do with the fact she was his illegitimate daughter he had with some prostitute I believe."

"Yikes! You guys should overthrow him and the rest of the government. He and his cronies sounds like they are pure evil." The government in these walls seems to be just as ruthless as the mobsters who forced my dad into handing his mines over to them. I then stopped myself from thinking about it since it was depressing. While I may not remember it as well as I used to, it still haunts me occasionally. I have no clue how long ago that happened since I don't even know how long I've been trapped in my Titan form. I then felt a flick to my forehead, snapping me back to reality. I looked and saw that Levi was one who did that.

I put my hand on the spot he flicked at and asked "Why did you do that for?"

"You were zoning out and I needed to snap you back to reality."

"Oh, sorry about that. What is it that I missed while zoning out?"

"In case, Historia's dad takes over. We'll probably have to put you into hiding maybe perhaps outside ofWall Rose. Erwin, my fellow captains, and I don't trust the government. During these next few weeks, besides training, we are going to help Trost and other cities and villages within Wall Rose become more self-sufficient, so they don't have to rely on the Reeves company for food. Guys, we can't let that incident where they forced us into giving up Eren and Historia up to the government again."

"Wait who's the Reeves company? Why did you hand over them to those goons, and what are the importance of those two people called Eren and Historia?"

"Two months ago, The Reeves company, a group of wealthy merchants from Wall Sina, threatened to cut off the trade of food to Trost if we didn't hand over Historia and Eren to the noblemen living in Wall Sina. Historia is an illegitimate child of Lord Reiss, who may have valuable information about how the walls were built and such, and the government wants to see how much she knew and perhaps prevent her from sharing that information from others if she does know anything. She was a fellow member of this squad also before they took her. In fact the bed you are sleeping on was once hers. Eren was a soldier from Wall Maria who thought he was normal human, but one day discovers he's a titan shifter, to make a long short. If you want to know more details about, you should probably ask Armin and Mikasa since they were his childhood friends. He was a part of my squad also."

"So there's other shifters besides me?"

"Yes, in fact there's four others that we know about besides you and Eren. Three of them we consider to be enemies to humanity, and two of those three we know for sure were involved in the fall of Wall Maria. The fourth one, named Ymir, we aren't entirely sure what side she's on. It's a long story."

"Could any of you guys tell me more about these other titan shifters?"

They all took turns to explain about the other titan shifters. I now understood their grievances against the titans, why they focused more on the titans instead of trying to overthrow the government, and their perspective. I'm they didn't find out about how all titans were once human until recently considering they had problems with for over a hundred years. Heck my parents and siblings were transformed into titans before I was. They also told me a bit about their friend Historia and that she also went by the name Christa. They also told me about how the wall contain dormant Titans inside. I'm pretty sure the government is the one responsible for the suffering of their citizens. I've decided to not try running away at least for now. I'll be willing to help them overthrow their evil government. Then after this issue is resolved then I'll probably leave. But maybe I'll change my mind in the future. I'll just have to wait and see.

Knock! Levi ran to the door, opening it to find Hanji and Molbit behind it.

"Levi, the witness has just passed away, and Erwin wants to have another meeting. Also, how did the meeting with the king go?" He whispered something into Hanji's ear. I wasn't able to make out what he was saying since he was too far away. She grinned in response to what he told her. I guess she's happy about the fact I'll continue to stay here.

"Berta, you are coming with me to see Erwin."

"Why are you bringing Berta along Levi?"

"I need to keep watch over her, and this meeting may pertain to her."

"Oh ok, good thinking Levi." He walked towards me and grabbed my wrist dragging me out of the cabin.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: sorry that this chapter was short. hopefully the next chapter will be a bit longer. I also made one minor edit in chapter 2. also the squad leader who's a friend of the absent leader james smith, will appear in the next chapter. next quarter is gonna start soon, so updates to this story may be a bit slower.**

* * *

He dragged me out of the house, and Hanji followed us from behind. Not sure where Molbit went to though since he was no where to be seen while we headed towards the meeting place. Levi continued to keep his hold on my wrist for several more minutes.

"Um, you didn't have to drag me like that." He responded by simply letting go of my wrist. Hanji and I continued to follow behind him towards the main HQ building. When we reached the entrance, a tall man with bushy eyebrows, waved at us from the front porch of the building waved at us with his only usable hand since one of his arms got amputated. I know I've seen him before I just can't remember his name. We all waved back at him, then walked towards him.

"I see you got Berta here with you, so it's true the king allowed Berta to stay with you, Levi."

"Yes Commander Erwin, the king entrusted me to her but I'm not sure why though. I've decided to bring her to this meeting with me." Oh so that's his name.

"Come inside, other squad leaders are waiting." He opened the door, leading us inside. We went to a room with a large table and many seats. Most of the seats were already taken. I didn't recognize any of the people sitting in the room. Levi and I sat next to each not far from where Erwin sat. Hanji sat a few seats over from us. Right after we got seated, two more people entered the room in the last two remaining seats. The majority of the people in the room were male but I spotted three other females besides Hanji and I.

"Ahem, Since everyone is here , we can now start the meeting."

A guy in the back stood up from his chair and called out, "Commander Erwin Sir! Squad leader James Smith caught the stomach flu and couldn't come to the meeting today. So I'll report the details of this meeting to him later, Sir!" He sat right back down on his chair.

"Let's get this meeting started then," Erwin continued, "There's many things we need to discuss. First of all, the King was generous enough to allow us to keep our titan shifter Berta as least for a little while longer. In fact, she's here with us as well sitting next to Levi." Everyone in the room looked in my direction.

"Also, in case our plan to put Historia Reiss on the throne fails, we need to come up with a backup plan,which is what this meeting is about. If our plan fails, besides the fact some of scouting legion members could possibly die, the government would most likely choose someone else who would do their bidding to take over as king. Maybe we could overthrow the government and replace it with a better one."

A man raised his hand and asked, "May I have permission to speak sir?" Erwin nodded his head in response.

"The problem with trying to overthrow the government is that many people could possibly die from that and what if we fail in overthrowing them. What if they decide to cut of trade with wall rose or blockade it, which could cause a lot of people to starve to death. We've lost a lot of people when Wall Maria fell, we can't afford to lose thousands of more lives."

"Sometimes making sacrifices for the great good is necessary."

"Well we can only make so many sacrifices. Too many sacrifices is no good." Some people in the room vocalized their agreement. Then those who disagreed with that squad leader started to argue with those who agreed with him. They continued to argue for another good two to three minutes. That all ended when I heard a loud banging sound nearby me. I looked to my left and saw that it was Levi who banged the table with one of his fists.

"Shut the fuck up with this goddamn arguing! It's not like we have much of a choice the way things are going right now anyway. We should at least prepare ourselves for when that day comes."

"Got any ideas, smart ass?" Levi glared at the man who said that.

"Stop it you two! Last thing I need is to see you two get into another fist fight." Erwin Shouted. "Let's get started with brainstorming ideas about the subject at hand. Anyone of you wanna go first?"

Levi stood up from his chair and spoke, "I have a few ideas. First of all we could gain more support by telling more of the average citizens about how bad the government. We also need to recruit more troops and figure out a way to train them quickly. We should help develop more farmland, and help the citizens become less dependent on food supplies from Wall Sina."

"Those are some good ideas Levi, but I think we should also prepare for any potential refugees. Sometimes corrupt governments send out troops to terrorize their own cities, so in case they decide to do that."

"That's a good idea Berta." Erwin responded. Some whispers could be heard. I'm not sure if they were agreeing or disagreeing with me.

"I think that both Levi and Berta have some good ideas, but next time you have an idea you want to share, you should stand up first." The same man who told Commander Erwin that one squad leader would be absent for this meeting, stood up and blurted out. The man to his left whispered something into his ear which apparently embarrassed him. After that man whispered, a woman sitting nearby elbowed him. Now I actually kind of wonder what he was saying now. I felt a hand lightly grip onto my waist. I looked down and saw it was Levi's hand. Afterwards, we all discussed for hours on more ideas, and how to put the plans we decided on into action. I don't know how long Levi had his hand on my waist but his hand must have been there for at least a little while. I wonder what's up with Levi, since he's not affectionate type. He seems to be acting a little different since this morning. Maybe he has mood swings. This meeting was both interesting and boring at the same time. After a few hours, I put my head down on the table and fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note: I had such a hard time writing this chapter, but I had to get it done. The next chapter is gonna speed things up like the third chapter did.**

* * *

I woke up to find myself in my bed in the same clothes I wore yesterday. I guess Levi must have carried me there. I looked around and saw that Mikasa and Sasha weren't there, which means that they are already eating breakfast I presume. I walked out the room in order to have breakfast. I everyone else was already at the table, and there was a new person I've never seen before.

"Good morning Berta" Sasha, Armin and Connie greeted you.

"Oh! so you've finally woken up, and Berta, go ahead and take my seat I'll eat once at least one of you guys finishes eating and leaves the table." I sat on the chair Levi normally sits at.

"Sasha, who's the new girl?"

"Oh, we rescued her from getting executed by the military police."

"Why did they try to kill her?"

"I'll answer that question myself. A few months ago, these scary men killed my father and then kidnapped and sold into me sexual slavery in a brothel near the Inner district. I was trapped there for about a month. Some of the clients there were members of the government and nobility. After a month of being there, I finally managed to escape along with the other slaves there. After we escaped the inner wall, we all went our separate ways and I'm not sure where they are at I went back to my aunt and uncle, I told them what happened and they took me in since they didn't have any children of their own. Over time I made a few friends, and eventually told one of them about what had happened to me. Around a week later, the military police came in and killed my aunt and uncle. They also tried to kill me but luckily your female friends happened to be nearby and rescued me from them. They convinced your boss Levi to let me stay here at least for the night. Not sure where I'm gonna stay at tonight."

"Well if you are willing to help around, and maybe even participate in training, I'll definitely allow you stay here longer. What's your name again? I forgot" Levi walked into the dining room serving breakfast for us all.

"My name is Edith , and you are Captain Levi right?" He nodded his head to Edith's question. He then gave each of us squad members, a piece of paper listing our chores for the day.

"Edith, you are gonna help Sasha do her chores since hers are a bit more time consuming than everyone else's. The chores will get done faster if you work together." After, we all finished eating, we all got ready to do our chores. Once we are done Levi will tell us what to do next hopefully. I went outside and looked at my list. I saw only four tasks on the list: pull out the weeds, chop up firewood, water the plants, then ask Levi for the seeds and then plant them outside in the spot I tell you to plant them at I'm not looking forward to the planting seeds since that's just plain long and tedious. I'm unsure about the wood chopping part since I've never done it before, and I'm not exactly in top shape.

I decided to start the weed pulling first since I spotted only spotted dandelion and a larger patch of rag weed. Once I finished removing the dandelions, I went towards the patch of rag weed near the fence. I pulled out the weed as hard as could. Bang! I accidentally bumped my head on the fence a bit loudly while yanking the remaining weeds out.

"Are you ok?" I heard a somewhat familiar voice call out. I started to get up and saw that one squad leader from yesterday. He ran towards me.

"My head's a little sore." I replied.

"That's good to hear. Oh by the way my name is Victor Azarov, and as you already know I'm a squad leader." We shook hands.

"As probably already know, my name is Berta." We then pulled our hands apart as we finished greeting.

"Just wondering, how did you bang you head on that fence?"

"Oh, I was trying to pull out weeds since it was one of the chores my squad leader Levi assigned to me. I lost balance while doing that and hit my head."

"ok, do you need any help on the chores?"

"Yes, if you would please. Could you chop the wood for me and help me plant seeds once you finish that, and after I finish watering the flowers?"

"Sure." We got to work right after I said that. I finished watering the plants in 15 minutes, while it took an extra 15 minutes for Victor to chop up all the wood.

"Stay outside while I got get the seeds." I rushed into the cabin and found Levi Cleaning in the Kitchen.

"Le-VEE,I finished the other three chores, so can you give me the seeds now?" I pronounced his name with an emphasis on the last syllable like it.

"Don't pronounce my name like that! It's not funny."

"Well I think it is!" He threw 6 packets of vegetable seed at me.

"The spot where you plant them at is at the large dirt plot Jean and Connie made yesterday."

I rushed outside and signaled Victor to follow me. This task was painstakingly tedious. By the time I finished planting the seeds the first packet I grabbed, Viktor was already starting on his third packet.

"Damn you're fast! I've only finished one packet and you are on your third one."

"I grew up on a farm, and I have a green thumb. Plus, I have a vegetable garden on my squad's headquarters."

"That explains a lot." Shortly after I finished planting the second packet I planted, he finished the last remaining packet.

"Thank you for helping me finish the chores!" I gave him a quick hug. I heard footsteps from a distance

"Stop screwing around and get your fucking chores done!"

"Excuse me, Le-VEE!, For your information I'm already done with my chores."

"She's telling the truth Levi, I saw her with my own eyes."

"Ok then, Berta just sit inside and wait for Sasha,Edith, and Connie to finish their chores. Then we'll get started on training."

"I have to go back to my squad now, bye Berta." We waved our goodbyes. After everyone finished their chores, we all went to the training grounds bringing our 3dm gear except for Edith since she didn't have any.

"Sasha, Mikasa, Armin, Jean, and Connie, your training today is the same as 3 days ago." They all ran towards the wooded area with the titan dummies. Edith and I continued to follow Levi. He then led us to another area with trees not as big as the ones found where the others.

"Berta, today is gonna be your first practice session where you actually have to use the 3dmg since I've already introduced you to it sufficiently. Start by using you gear to climb this tree next to me, and make your way to the Fir tree way over there on the other side of this training ground within in 15 minutes. If you can't do that, we'll keep practicing until you can." He pointed to a large tree that's kind of far away from where. Ugh that's a lot to ask for from me. I reluctantly started using the gear to climb up the tree. I went slow and steady for about 10 minutes tree hopping. I noticed that by ten minutes, I only was halfway done. So I rushed from tree to tree carelessly. To my misfortune When I got close the giant Fir, I didn't pay attention and aimed the grappling hook to a small branch. The hook tore through the small branch causing me to fall. Shit! I don't wanna go kersplat on the ground. While falling down, the grappling hook somehow got latched to a large branch further down the tree, but it hooked to the branch in a weird angle, causing me to hang upside down.

"Somebody Help me! I'm stuck!" I kept calling out. Eventually, Levi & Edith came a few minutes later after I got stuck. Levi was able to get me down rather quickly.

"I'll have you do this practice course again tomorrow as practice at least two more times tomorrow unless you get it right the first time. Since you were hanging upside down for a while, you are too dizzy and light-headed and if I made a newbie like you do this again while in that state, you'll most likely make a major screw-up." I nodded in agreement, and I struggled to follow them since I was wobbling due to feeling light-headed. We met up with the rest of the squad, and went back to the cabin and called it quits for the day. Levi decided to let Edith stay as long as she helps around and is willing to fight titans or other humans when asked to. Levi also told us that her story perhaps along with other's testimonies, may help to reduce to support of the government by the general public which is good in my opinion. He asked us to keep this plan a secret at least for now. I went to bed thinking about today's events.


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry I took so long to update this. I kind of had a hard time writing this chapter for some unknown reason. Since school has already started, not sure how long it'll take for the next chapter to come out. yes I've read chapter 56. I might incorporate some of the revelations in that chapter into this story. i guess the ending of this chapter is kind of a cliffhanger.**

* * *

The next day, It was my turn to make breakfast for everyone. luckily the list of chores was short that day. After everyone finished their chores, Levi had me do the same practice. It took three tries for me to finish it within the allotted time. He told me for the next few weeks the training sessions are gonna get harder until I get used to them, and eventually he'll have me practice killing titan dummies. Levi also plans to have Edith tells some random citizens in Trost and later in other cities in order decrease the numbers of those who support the government. Also someone sent an extra bed to us for Edith to sleep on so she's now in the same room as Mikasa,Sasha, and I are sharing.

I felt a gentle tug on my wrist, waking me up. I'm not usually a heavy sleeper, so a simple touch can wake me up sometimes. I opened my eyes to see that the culprit was Sasha.

"We have to go eat breakfast soon, Today's gonna be a busy day. First, we have to help set up the scouting legions new farm by settling the farm animals in, then we have to do some more training if there's time." I got up and joined everyone at the breakfast table. After finishing breakfast, we all followed Levi outside. After walking for about a half and hour, we all finally reached the destination. The farm was a medium sized one. It wasn't huge but i've seen smaller farm than this one though. Luckily there's already some crops there, so hopefully I won't have to plant seed again for now at least.

"Since we've reach the destination. here's the list of chores needed to be done. Jean,Connie, Armin! You three are working together. Sasha and Mikasa, you two will be working together. Finally Edith and Berta, you two form the last group." Captain clean freak handed each group a list of chores to be done. I looked at our list. The chores we were assigned were as followed: water the plants, remove rotting fruit from trees, put hay in the troughs in the barn, after the the first three chores are done tell me then i'll get the hens and the rooster ready so you two can put them in the hen house and settle them in, feed the chickens, and finally help squad leader Viktor sheer the sheep. After several long hours out in the grueling heat, we end up finishing first before the rest of the squad. Since we finished first Levi allowed us to sit down and talk if we wanted while waiting for the others. We sat under the shade under the large oak tree.

"Just wondering, you were the titan who was running around Trost a few days ago right," I simply gave her nod, "What caused you to transform, and how did break free? How's it like to transform into a titan? Sorry if i'm bugging you with all these questions, there's just too many things i want know about them since the government won't." I then explained to her what I knew and answered her questions.

After I answered her questions, she then asked, "In case, the scouting legion can't successfully overthrow the government, and if both of us are still alive by then, would you like to run away with me out of these walls?"

"Maybe depending how these next few months play out. Like you, I hate the government, and i'm sure they are responsible for at least most of the problems you people are facing."

"If we do end up overthrowing the government, who's gonna take over. I sure wouldn't want our squad leader to take over."

"Yeah he'll probably go mad with power and kill those who think 'little' of him." We laughed for a little bit.

"Let's stop making jokes about him, so he won't catch us. Switching topics, there's something I want to tell you. You know when I introduced myself to you two days, there's one thing I forgot to mention to you. You see my dad once worked for the central police. He kept it a secret from me and my mom for a while. But one day when I was 8 years old, my mom somehow found out about his job and what he did, she killed herself. Feeling guilty, my dad deserted them and took me into hiding with him. We initially lived in the city of Pathas, then moved to Trost after Shinganshina got breached. After several years they found my dad and killed him, and sold me into slavery. The only other people here I told this was to were Sasha and Mikasa, after they rescued me, and luckily they didn't tell the others yet hopefully. I don't want to tell the boys because i'm afraid Connie will spill the beans to Levi since he's such a big mouth. I'm not sure if I can trust Levi. He looks pretty shady if you ask me."

"I don't like Levi either. If the government wasn't so corrupt and if the citizens weren't such in bad shape, I would've ran away or at least try to several times already. I feel sorry for all the innocents who have been trapped here in this hell hole for their whole lives."

"Chit-chat time is over Brats! We need to do some training before the day is over!" We both jumped from where we were sitting when we heard him yell.

"It was nice talking to you Berta."

"Same here."

We caught up with the rest of the group. Our training sessions were understandably short today.

~timeskip~

The next month and and half flew by fast. I finally learned how to use the 3dmg sufficiently, and Edith will probably do so also in the next few weeks. We also continued to prepare for a possible influx of refugees such storing up surplus food and water, and creating evacuation plans. We also set up cots and stored up medical supplies. On some days, our squad would leave base and travel to different parts of wall rose, where Edith, and Armin would share to a crowd of people their stories of their negative experiences with the government. I learned that Armin's parents and Grandpa were sent out to die after the fall of Wall Maria along with hundreds of thousands of other people, since the government didn't want to take them in as refugees. After they shared the stories, occasionally some people would stand up share their own stories of witnessing government corruption and stuff. Some would also share their own grievances with the government also. We all lived day by day on our toes in case to government decided to step out of the shadows, and oppress the people even more.

Then one night, I was woken up a loud knocking sound on the front door. Even though I was dead tired, the knocking had woken me up. Hearing Sasha,Mikasa, and Edith snoring, I got out of bed and walked towards the door, half asleep.


End file.
